That list must look nice for a Steelers fan to look and see the 3 other teams in their division the Jaguars, Browns, Bengals are 1,2,4 on the list of teams who at least at the bottom are cheap & have 25+ million of cap room they won’t use. As a Raiders fan I could only dream of the day my team had 25 mil to spend in the offseason.

You can take the Cardinals off that list. Carson Palmer’s 2013 cap hit will be $6+ mil & hadn’t been accounted for in their total. That leaves them at most about $5.5 mil.

southpaw2k says:Apr 3, 2013 7:51 PM

I thought there was a rule built into the new CBA that teams had to spend at least 90% of the salary cap every year. With the kind of room the Jaguars, Browns, Bucs, Bengals, and Eagles have, what do they do with it? And what penalty do they face if they don’t spend it all? It’s not like signing their draft picks will take up that much cap space.

browns627 says:Apr 3, 2013 8:00 PM

i have a feeling the browns are saving cash for after teams start cutting players

Teams only have to spend 90% accumulative over four years so they wont face a penalty for not spending up to the cap on a yearly basis though I’m not sure if there is a floor…..

icdogg says:Apr 4, 2013 2:50 PM

As overthecap.com points out, reported cap space is not the same as effective cap space. Using the example of the Jets, assuming they trade Revis:

Start: $13 million- Reported cap room for the Jets
Less: $4 million- Loss of cap space in a trade of Revis due to acceleration of bonuses paid
Less: $480,000- Replacement of Revis on roster by 52nd highest cap player
Less: $5.6 million- Estimated Year One Rookie Pool Allocation for Jets 7 draft picks
Add: $1.92 million- Rookie displacement of players 48-51 in the current salary cap ($480,000 x 4)
Add: $1.215 million- Removing the base salaries from the rookie pool for players who do not displace a current top 51 contract ($405,000 x 3)
Less: $960,000- For players 52 and 53 who will now count against the cap once the season begins
Less: $816,000- Maintaining an 8 player Practice Squad for the season (8 x 17 x $6,000)
Finish: $4.279 million- This is the Jets effective cap space for the season.

Sadly, being left with cap space at this stage of free agency, is like showing up at the chinese buffet 15 minutes before closing time. You’re starving, and those last couple servings of sushi may look OK…